Members of Bangladesh Border Guard stand guard on the bank of the River Naf in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday to prevent Rohingya minorities from entering into Bangladesh.
Over 200 more Rohinyas entered Bangladesh through Teknaf border in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday taking to over 1,200 the number Myanmar ethnic minority people sneaking into the country over the past week, said officials and local people.
Rohingyas fleeing violence against them in Rakhine State continued to enter Bangladesh through land and river borders for shelters as the Myanmar troops launched fresh crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims in Northern Maungdaw township of Arakan province on November 9.
Border Guard Bangladesh on Tuesday pushed back at least 216 Rohingyas to their homeland, border guard officials said.
Seven including children drowned in the river Naff while crossing by boat early Monday at Jadimora of Teknaf upazila, according to victims’ relatives, who managed to sneak into Bangladesh territory.
Teknaf police recovered one 25-year-old youth’s body from the river Naff at Nazirpara point of Teknaf at about 7:00pm on Monday. The rest of the bodies were still missing.
Teknaf police officer-in-charge Abdul Majid confirmed the incident.
Rohingya Muslims who arrived on Tuesday took shelters at Ukhiya and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar, local people said.
International community believe that Myanmar army have launched coordinated attacks on ethnic minorities along the borders to demonstrate that the army is ‘in control’ of the government.
A regional commander-level meeting between the border guards of Bangladesh and Myanmar is scheduled for today in Cox’s Bazar, border guard officials said.
The commanding officer of border guard battalion at Teknaf, Lieutenant Colonel Abu Jar Al Jahid said that border guards foiled attempts of 150 Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh through the river Naff early Tuesday.
Rohingya Muslims continued crossing through the river Naff and land border Tumbrow, Gungdom of Nikhyangchari upazila in Bandarban local people said.
Border guard sources said that 66 Rohingyas, including 35 children, were pushed back to Myanmar from Tumbrow point of Nikyangchari Tuesday afternoon.
Border guards checked all vehicles on Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf road and Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf marine drive road to capture Rohingya newcomers on Tuesday.
Newcomer Homyun Kabir said that he lost his three toddlers in the river Naff early Monday when his family was crossing the river Naff at Jadimora point of Teknaf by a boat.
Sirajul Islam, 55, of Choto Gojorbill village under Northern Maungdaw in Arakan said that he lost eight members of his family during the military crackdown in his homeland as his homestead was set on fire.
Shawkat Ara, 15, daughter of Abu Taher of Raymarbill village under Northern Maungaw said, ‘Myanmar military set fire to our house and caught my parents from the house a week ago.’
The persecuted Rohingyas were intruding through the country’s porous river and land borders with Myanmar after the killing of scores of people in escalation of fresh attacks on the religious minority community in Northern Maungdaw.
Home minister Asaduzzman Khan said on Tuesday that border guards and the Bangladesh Coast Guard were put on alert near Bangladesh-Myanmar frontier so that none could enter the country illegally.
Scores were killed and about 30,000 people had been displaced by violence in Rakhine state, half of them over the course of the past week when dozens of people died in clashes with the military, the United Nations said on November 18.
The UN Security Council on November 17 held an informal consultation in its headquarters in New York about the deteriorating human rights situation in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Diplomats from several UN Security Council member countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Japan, France, Senegal and Venezuela were present in the consultation.
A good number of diplomats also believe that tension along the border was also created to allow drug cartel, arms smugglers and human traffickers to continue their activities along the land borders and sea routes.
Bangladesh and Myanmar diplomats were not present in the UN Security Council consultation.
The European Commission dispatched a delegation to Myanmar to assess the situation in the Rakhine state, where the commission and several other international organisations were forced to stop their humanitarian activities after the attacks on Muslims.
A delegation of the European Commission is expected to call on a senior general of the Myanmar army, ‘Tatmadaw’ in Burmese language, today to convey the European Commission’s concern about the deterioration of rights situation in Rakhine state.
Army units launched crackdown on Rohingyas despite of Tatmadaw chief’s warning issued in September on defence personnel that they must strictly follow the Geneva Convention and military code of conduct.
Myanmar President Office admitted in a statement on November 21 that security forces ‘are tightening security in the area’, while the Rakhine state government was providing food to residents.
New York-based Human Rights Watch published satellite images on Monday and alleged that ‘destructive round of arson attacks’ were continuing in Rakhine state where more than 1,200 houses were destroyed in military lockdown.
Myanmar army launched the crackdown on Muslims in Rakhine state after ‘miscreants’ allegedly attacked several policemen on border outposts along the Bangladesh borders in the first week of November.
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Source: New Age